Given that he got two
toys that ended up being effectively "redacted" from the line once he showed
up in the Prime show with a modified version of the Optimus Prime design,
Ultra Magnus definitely seems to have been initially planned to enter the
show sooner than he did. Regardless, this version of him follows the 2012
Commander's form, with his vehicle mode being a heavy truck. The proportions
in this mode are generally quite on-point, with a flat front and a lower
back end. However, although his robot extras aren't as obvious as his on
Commander class toy, they still stick out fairly obviously. His waist and
upper legs clearly form the top back end of the rear two-thirds or so of
this mode, and a rather sizeable gap can be seen lengthwise in between
the two halves of his back third, which quite obviously form his robot
legs, with the toes evem sticking up at the rear end (and the heels sticking
out a bit BELOW the rear end, as well). Nothing of note in regards to robot
mode bits can be seen inside his transparent blue windows, though, so that's
always good. Ultra Magnus' color scheme stays more-or-less like it's usually
been, with the main color being a rather milky, medium shade of blue, with
a fair amount of milky gray plastic used as a neutral color for it to contrast
against (as opposed to his usual white, which I think would've looked a
little better). I'm never been a fan of milky grays that are towards the
lighter end of the scale-- they always look quite boring to me, and should
be more metallic-esque if they're being used on a TF toy-- but this gray
isn't really light (and thus distractingly off and boring), so at least
there's that. Some silver paint apps on Magnus' front bumper and sides
help add to this general area of the color scheme, but what helps make
his color scheme catch the eye in this mode are the light red paint apps
on his roof and the stripes along his sides, which really help create some
more contrast and visual interest. (He's also got black tires, to give
him a truly dark color.) It's a fairly decent color scheme overall, though
I liked the darker, more metallic shade of blue used for Magnus' earlier
Commander class toy. Magnus' mold detailing is roughly par-for-the-course
in terms of Prime toys-- in fitting with the aesthetic, he's got several
parts that have fairly minimal detailing (such as the sides of this mode),
with a few spots with more intricate detailing, such as his front end and
the upper sides of the back third or so of this mode, complete with little
rivets and the like molded in. This said, Ultra Magnus DESPERATELY needs
some paint on the rear "bed" of this mode to bring out some of his details--
he's almost entirely blue there, with just a tad black and gray, and thus
looks rather boring back there. For weapons, first Magnus has a missile-like
accessory (it doesn't fire), which can store on one of four different 5mm
ports-- 2 on each side-- and one on the top, on his red roof. (The missile
also has a 5 mm port on it as well, if you want to "stack" more weapons
on top of it.) Two additional pieces can fold up from his back half to
hold 5mm compatible weapons, and the angle has it so they aren't aiming
right at the back of Magnus' truck body, which is always a good thing.
Magnus' main "Powerizer" weapon, however, is a railgun-like weapon with
a rather odd-looking chunk of blue plastic coming off the middle of it.
This weapon has four 5mm pegs-- one on each side, one on the front, and
one of the bottom, so he's got some good storage options, here. By sliding
the top section back, the weapon converts into a hammer, similar in style
to the one Animated Ultra Magnus used-- and
when it does so, a green LED light comes on behind the hammer head, lighting
up at least the front of the translucent head a bit (though the sides remain
transparent blue). The best part, though, is that there's actually a flip-out
connecting piece that you can use to keep the weapon in this mode until
you want to convert it back! Granted, the LED light stays on the whole
time it's in hammer mode, but THIS is what Powerizer weapons should have
been in the beginning-- finally, Magnus can actually USE his Powerizer
weapon in its deployed form!
Ultra Magnus' transformation
is pretty simple for a Voyager, almost entirely consisting of just straighting
out and separating his legs, unfolding out the arms from the sides, and
then rotating a few bits on his lower arms to make them look more solid.
In robot mode, Magnus looks quite good, with one notable exception-- the
windows and roof section on his back are square and thus don't fit in with
their surrounding pieces in terms of a silouhette at all. This back section
also doesn't tab in anywhere solidly, which increases the annoying-ness
factor of it a bit. Ultra Magnus' shoulders also also a tad wonky-- I do
love how the sections of his vehicle bumper rotate forward to give his
shoulders the impression of being large, but it's only a "shell" of a front,
and not convincing at most angles. In most angles, you can see just the
"bare bones" shoulder ball joints, which again doesn't look right on Magnus.
(I do like the "missile pods" sticking up out of his shoulders, though,
given that this is one of the character's main design elements.) However,
otherwise his proportions are fantastic, giving him a rather heroic stance
that looks powerful without being overly beefy. The way the sides of his
vehicle mode fold around to give him very solid-looking arms from any angle
is impressive, and his legs partially make up for their poor disguise in
vehicle mode by just generally being solid, well-proportioned apppendages,
here. The mold detailing on Ultra Magnus' robot parts is quite good and
in keeping with the Prime theme of multiple overlapping panels-- his chest
looks particularly nice with the white, silver, and red paint detailing,
and there's a bit of visible silver paint on his legs as well, giving him
a bit more color variation down there. Magnus' face sculpt is also spot-on,
mixing G1 Magnus' head with a more angular, nose-less Prime design and
a stern, no-nonsense look on his face that fits the character to a tee.
For articulation, Ultra Magnus can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders
(at two points), elbows (at two points), wrist and waist rotation, and
movement at the hips (at two points) and knees. His feet could've stood
to move around a bit, but otherwise he's got some pretty solid articulation--
and he's well-balanced, so he can pull off some pretty nice poses. Like
with the other 2012 Prime "Robots in Disguise" toys, Ultra Magnus' Powerizer
weapon's LED light can be mounted on his back, and when activated is supposed
to shine through the translucent plastic on either his chest or lower arms
(depending on where it's being held) to light them up green. However, as
is the case with nearly all toys in this line with this gimmick, it really
doesn't work at all, and is best ignored. Ultra Magnus' 5mm ports are on
his shoulders, back, and sides of his lower arms in this mode, as well
as his hands being able to hold these weapons, as well.
Prime "Robots in Disguise"
Powerizer Ultra Magnus is the go-to version of the character if you want
a Prime-verse representation of the character that isn't an Optimus remold,
what with his great articulation and proportions in robot mode, great detailing,
and one of the best (if not THE best) Powerizer weapons out there, that
can actually lock into either of its two modes. That said, he still definitely
has some robot kibble problems on the back half of his vehicle mode, his
roof section sticks out from behind his back in robot mode, and his shoulders
are a bit wonky. Although this version's color scheme isn't bad, I prefer
the Commander class version of this design in terms of color scheme. Still,
overall, mildly recommended.
Review by Beastbot